The 75th Anniversary of "Powerhouse"

Seventy-five years ago, the Raymond Scott Quintette recorded a manic, industrial jazz song called "Powerhouse," and popular culture was never quite the same.

There had never been anything else quite like it.  Scott wrote strange, difficult mechanical songs, almost devoid of the loose-limbed rhythm that defined the Swing era.  His Quintette - poached from colleagues at CBS radio - acutally consisted of six members.  Scott claimed the word "quintette" sounded "crisper," and added "calling it a 'sextet' might get your mind off music."  The group's drummer, Johnny Williams, sired composer John Williams, who has given us another generation of wonderful soundtrack music.

It wasn't long Carl Stalling, the music director for Warner Brothers cartoons, took notice.  Although Scott never wrote material specifically for cartoons (besides a few jingles in the early 60s), his work appeared in over 120 Warner Brothers animated features, and dozens of cartoons since.

Even if you've never heard of "Powerhouse," you've heard it.  Check out the Raymond Scott Quintette performing the song live on Your Hit Parade in April, 1955:

Scott continued to innovate, later as a pioneer in electronic music.  He was an acknowledged influence on Robert Moog, inventor of the Moog synthesiser.  In the early 1960s, Scott released "Soothing Sounds For Baby," which could easily have been heard in the late 70s or 1980s.  I'm not sure how it works as a lullaby, but listen to what Scott was capable of, on instruments he largely invented, in 1963:

Thanks to Jeff Winner, curator of The Raymond Scott Archives, Scott's influence is still felt today.  Take a moment to follow the links - one of which is a compilation of 75 clips of "Powerhouse" in popular media.